Both have taught me how to find my way over walls.
This year I am going to go a couple extra miles to raise funds for Ultimate Peace, an organization dedicated to building bridges of friendship. An organization full of joy, light, and love. An organization that does the work, even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard.
On Tuesday, March 3rd I am going to climb two miles in a day.
I was out in a freezing dirt parking lot coaching my HS ultimate team and I couldn’t have been happier. Discs were in the air, kids were experiencing the joy of ultimate, and you could feel a palpable sense of community amongst my team. It was awesome.
During a water break, a call came in from a dear old friend, Linda Sidorsky, asking me if I was interested in coming out to work at Camp Ultimate Peace. I was immediately interested, but had to get back to practice so I said I’d think about it and get back in contact with her soon.
This summer I will be making my 8th trip out to the Middle East to work at Camp Ultimate Peace, a program that exists to build bridges of friendship, trust, and love in complicated, dynamic, and richly diverse spaces.
While in the Middle East I will training coaches, coaching youth teams, connecting with communities, and contributing to the administrative team that helps propel camp.
The work is hard, joyous, frustrating, magical, humbling, and infinitely rewarding.
I can’t imagine a place I’d rather be than Camp Ultimate Peace.
On top of all of this awesome, I am beyond thrilled that my brother Caleb will be coming out for his 4th Camp Ultimate Peace summer.
Ultimate Peace exists because of donors from around the world and like I have done in past years, I am urging all of my supporters to donate to my brother instead of me. You can read all about his campaign right here.
Camp UP 2019 will be special. Please consider donating to make the work of Ultimate Peace possible!
You can click here to make a donation.
If you are up for the long version, or want to know why I’m taking the uncomfortable step of asking for money, please head over to this page.
Shalom, Salaam, Peace,
Hello Friends and Family,
This summer I am thrilled to be making my 7th trip to the Middle East to work at CampUP, a youth Ultimate camp run by a phenomenally amazing organization called Ultimate Peace.
More importantly, I am beyond thrilled that my brother Caleb will also be returning to CampUP, this time as a full coach!
Like last year, I am urging all of my supporters to donate to my brother instead of me. You can read all about his campaign right here.
Here’s the short version of what’s going on:
– This summer I’ll be in the Middle East for almost all of July, working with Ultimate Peace at two one-week overnight camps for Arab, Jewish, and Palestinian youths. This summer we will have over 230 campers, 50 LITs, and 90+ staff spread across two sessions!
– In addition to coaching a camper team of my own, I will be continuing my role as Program Manager for Camp Ultimate Peace. In this position I oversee operations for all camp logistics operations as well as staff development. Recently I began serving on Ultimate Peace’s Board of Directors.
– You can find read all about Ultimate Peace at http://www.ultimatepeace.org/.
– Ultimate Peace operates fully by donations, and each coach is responsible for raising substantial funds to make the camps happen.
– Every last little bit helps, even if it is to just spread the word!
– I will be blogging about all of my Ultimate Peace experiences at www.UltimateJosh.com.
– I have been lucky enough to give several presentations talking about my time with Ultimate Peace. Here are the most recent three:
Osher Lecture Series @ The Catamount Arts – 3/28/13
Williston Political Awareness Club – 1/10/14
Williston Assembly – 4/16/14
Ultimate Peace Presentation at The Black Sheep – 2/6/18
– Due to a generous Williston professional development grant, I was able to spend all of Spring Break 2014 traveling through Israel and the West Bank. I visited schools, saw math classes in action, folded Origami with masters, taught Ultimate, and saw many new places. You can read all about my travels right here.
– I will be continuing my work folding prayer Cranes and placing them into the Western Wall as part of The Crane Project.
– The most recent Ultimate Peace promo video can be viewed right here.
– The absolute best way to learn about Ultimate Peace is to watch this 5 minute clip of the Telling Well – Episode 2.
– Please consider supporting my work by making a donation using this link to support my brother Caleb’s Camp Ultimate Peace experience.
If you are up for the long version, or want to know why I’m taking the uncomfortable step of asking for money, head on over to this page.
Salaam & Shalom,
The weeks immediately after camp are always a bit strange. Making the gear shift from the halcyon days of camp to anything else is an intense change.
Camp Ultimate Peace 2017 was truly the best camp ever. For a week we truly created a unique world. We created the world we want to see expanded across the entire globe.
None of our work would have been possible without your support.
To read about Caleb’s camp experience, head over to this blog post.
To see what camp was like, check out this photo album.
To hear about what UP means to me, check out my 2017 crane folding presentation.
Once again, thank you for all of your support. It means the world to us.
Hello Friends and Family,
This summer I am thrilled to be making my 6th trip to the Middle East to work at CampUP, a youth Ultimate camp run by a phenomenally amazing organization called Ultimate Peace.
Caleb!
More importantly, I am beyond thrilled that my brother Caleb will also be returning to CampUP, this time to be one of two leaders of the North American Leaders in Training program!
Like last year, I am urging all of my supporters to donate to my brother instead of me. You can read all about his campaign right here.
Here’s the short version of what’s going on:
– This summer I’ll be in the Middle East for almost all of July, working with Ultimate Peace at a 7-day overnight camps for Arab, Jewish, and Palestinian youths. This summer we will have over 185 campers, 50 LITs, and 80+ staff.
– In addition to coaching a camper team of my own, I will be continuing my role as Program Manager for Camp Ultimate Peace. In this position I oversee operations for all camp logistics operations as well as staff development.
– You can find read all about Ultimate Peace at http://www.ultimatepeace.org/.
– Ultimate Peace operates fully by donations, and each coach is responsible for raising substantial funds to make the camps happen.
– Every last little bit helps, even if it is to just spread the word!
– I will be blogging about all of my Ultimate Peace experiences at www.UltimateJosh.com.
– I have been lucky enough to give several presentations talking about my time with Ultimate Peace. Here are the most recent three:
Osher Lecture Series @ The Catamount Arts – 3/28/13
Williston Political Awareness Club – 1/10/14
Williston Assembly – 4/16/14
– Due to a generous Williston professional development grant, I was able to spend all of Spring Break 2014 traveling through Israel and the West Bank. I visited schools, saw math classes in action, folded Origami with masters, taught Ultimate, and saw many new places. You can read all about my travels right here.
– I will be continuing my work folding prayer Cranes and placing them into the Western Wall as part of The Crane Project.
– The most recent Ultimate Peace promo video can be viewed right here.
– The absolute best way to learn about Ultimate Peace is to watch this 5 minute clip of the Telling Well – Episode 2.
– Please consider supporting my work by making a donation using this link to support my brother Caleb’s Camp Ultimate Peace experience.
If you are up for the long version, or want to know more about why I’m taking the uncomfortable step of asking for money, please click here.
Salaam & Shalom,
Due to the extreme generosity of 54 donors, Caleb was able to surpass his goal and raise $3,394 for Ultimate Peace! Joined with the $2,523 that was donated in my name, Caleb and I were able to raise $5,917 for Ultimate Peace! We could not be more honored to receive such overwhelming support. It’s truly staggering.
Caleb and I began our journey to the Middle East on July 1st with a trip to the US Open in Rhode Island. While there I participated in the USA Ultimate summer board meeting, and Caleb and I watched lots and lots of incredible Ultimate. On July 4th we drove up to Boston for some family time and then the next afternoon departed from Boston on our flight for the Middle East!
Over the past 5 days we have:
You can view some video of the community visit right here. Photos are online here.
While we are traveling, Caleb and I will be uploading photos to this gallery.
Once again, thank you all so much for your incredible support!
Our bags are packed and our itinerary is set!
Caleb and I will begin our journey to the Middle East tomorrow afternoon, which is also the deadline to make a contribution towards Caleb’s work with Ultimate Peace.
We are incredibly honored to have raised $2,604 from toward’s Caleb’s work! We’d LOVE to reach the $3,000 goal in the next 24 hours.
Donations of any amount are greatly appreciated!
Thank you SO MUCH for all of your support.
Caleb and I will be walking around the streets of Jerusalem in less than 10 days! We couldn’t be more excited, or more honored to be a part of the magic that’s yet to come: Camp Ultimate Peace 2016.
Caleb has been playing Ultimate and learning about the region continually over the past months. I am literally picking Caleb up from a Middle Eastern politics class as we leave town to begin out journey to the Middle East.
I am currently polishing off the last of my project management tasks, making sure all the pieces are in order so that they can assemble along with 200 campers and 75 adults at camp. I’ve also been gathering hundreds of pieces of paper with prayers and messages written on them. Before and after camp I’ll be folding each piece into a crane and placing them into the Western Wall — What I call, The Crane Project.
With five days to go before the July 1st fundraising deadline, Caleb has raised $2,199 towards his target of $3,000. Donation of any size are greatly appreciated!
You can learn more about Caleb’s work with UP and make a donation right here.
Thanks to everyone for all the many ways you’ve supported Ultimate Peace!
Caleb and I couldn’t be more excited to get to the Middle East to begin our in-person work with Camp Ultimate Peace! Before we get to camp, we need to be fully prepared, so in the week before training begins at camp, I will be taking Caleb on a tour of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the West Bank, Nazareth, and as many other places as we can manage. We will connect with local coaches and communities, and experience as much of the local culture as possible.
To start helping to build peace you must know a place, and to know a place you must go there.
So, we are going.
With a little over two weeks to go before the July 1st fundraising deadline, Caleb has raised $1,859 towards his target of $3,000. Donation of any size are greatly appreciated.
You can learn more about Caleb’s work with UP and make donation right here.
Caleb spoke recently at our church about Ultimate Peace. You can watch a video of that presentation right here.
Caleb and I, along with the entire Ultimate Peace family thank you for your support!
Caleb spoke this morning about Ultimate Peace at the First Congregational Church of Sunderland. You can learn more about Caleb’s work with Ultimate Peace right here.